A Grin Without a Cat (1977)

Original title

Le fond de l'air est rouge

Directed by

Chris Marker

Genre

documentary film

Country

France

Runtime

4h

Rated

U

Rating

7.9 of 10 from 26 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This essay film examines political movements and conflicts of the 1960s and 1970s, focusing on the rise of the New Left in France and socialist efforts in Latin America. It reflects on the gap between revolutionary hopes and reality.

cerebralreflectivemelancholicpensivepoliticalfragmentarynostalgicthought-provoking

What happens

A Grin Without a Cat (French: Le fond de l'air est rouge) is a 1977 French essay film by Chris Marker. It focuses on global political turmoil in the 1960s and '70s, including the rise of the New Left in France and the development of socialist movements in Latin America. Using the image of Lewis Carroll's Cheshire Cat, the film's title evokes a dissonance between the promise of a global socialist revolution (the grin) and its actual nonexistence. The film's original French title means "The essence of the air is red", and has a subtext similar to the English title, implying that the socialist movement existed only in the air. The title is also a play on words: The original expression in French is "Le fond de l'air est frais", meaning "there is a chill/a nip in the air". Chris Marker replaced the last word, "frais" (fresh), with "rouge" (red), so the original title translates to At the bottom the air is red (communism/socialism). (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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